Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If the provider has kids that live at home just know that when the kid is too ill to go to school, the kid will likely be at home...with your daughter. My friend's daughter got sick like this. The lady's son had pink eye and was home with the kids in daycare. Her daughter caught pink eye from the providet's son.
That was irresponsible on the owner's part. When my bosses' kids get sick one of 2 things happen- If this illness was a quick thing and there was no time for arrangements to made the child was quarantined for the day. The child eats in their room, and only mom goes in to check on them. She takes standard precautionary measures as she would with any other child, so she uses the gloves and she sanitizes toys the child has used. The cups, plates and eating utensils the child has used goes into a bin with hot water & soap and then into the dishwasher. No home-bred illness being spread here.
Yes, that was irresponsible. My friend was totally pissed. However, the fact of the matter is that some diseases are airborne and no amount of keeping someone in a room is going to stop microscopic germs from floating into the air. For example, almost all respiratory stuff is airborne. As such, if a kid has a bad cold, the cold germs are in the air...to be breathed in by anyone in the house. Since we had our son, I have found that many people are not aware that colds can be spread through breathing in the particles breathed out by others and it is not necessary to physically handle someone's child to spread a cold. This is just an example. RSV is another dangerous respiratory illness that can be spread through air.
Further, germs live on surfaces for 24-72 hours at times. As such, even if children are quarantined while others are present at the daycare, the germs (such as those causing pinkeye) may have been placed on a surface by the sick child during evening hours after the children leave.
Just a bit of info. It's not as easy as one might think to keep germs from spreading when there is a sick person in the home.
I would go with an in-home provider that does not have children to be safest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazzii
That was irresponsible on the owner's part. When my bosses' kids get sick one of 2 things happen- If this illness was a quick thing and there was no time for arrangements to made the child was quarantined for the day. The child eats in their room, and only mom goes in to check on them. She takes standard precautionary measures as she would with any other child, so she uses the gloves and she sanitizes toys the child has used. The cups, plates and eating utensils the child has used goes into a bin with hot water & soap and then into the dishwasher. No home-bred illness being spread here.
Yes, that was irresponsible. My friend was totally pissed. However, the fact of the matter is that some diseases are airborne and no amount of keeping someone in a room is going to stop microscopic germs from floating into the air. For example, almost all respiratory stuff is airborne. As such, if a kid has a bad cold, the cold germs are in the air...to be breathed in by anyone in the house. Since we had our son, I have found that many people are not aware that colds can be spread through breathing in the particles breathed out by others and it is not necessary to physically handle someone's child to spread a cold. This is just an example. RSV is another dangerous respiratory illness that can be spread through air.
Further, germs live on surfaces for 24-72 hours at times. As such, even if children are quarantined while others are present at the daycare, the germs (such as those causing pinkeye) may have been placed on a surface by the sick child during evening hours after the children leave.
Just a bit of info. It's not as easy as one might think to keep germs from spreading when there is a sick person in the home.
I would go with an in-home provider that does not have children to be safest.
IMO you can't put kids in a bubble. Airborne illness is everywhere you go whether it be at the babysitters or the grocery store. All of my in-home caregivers had children, it was the reason they were running in home day care. Their kids getting sick was a given but my experience was that they were all far more diligent in sanitizing etc. than any center could ever be. If illness avoidance is your absolute top priority then day care of any kind will need to be avoided.
Kids get sick, especially in the younger years. Its part of building their immunities. If kids are never exposed to the general population and their bugs then when those isolated kids finally do reach school age they will spend a great deal of their first year ill.
It's a balance. Some illness in the early years is normal, excessive illness is troublesome.
When my son was a baby, he went to an in home daycare professional. The pros were that he was given a lot better attention. The group was smaller and she kept her home clean and sanitized. The cons were that if and when she or her own kids got sick, we had to find other arrangements (mainly me or my husband staying home from work). Same thing when she went on vacation. Also, if she had to run out to pick up her children from school, or go to the post office, etc, she would have her neighbor (unlicensed) watch the kids until she came back. We didn't find out about this until our son was a lot older.
My first daughter started at a center, and then moved to an in-home when she was about 18 months old. The in-home only had 6 children. It was good because all of the children were about the same age, so it was still like a peer classroom, but in a small setting. There was a lot of individual attention, and also more freedom to do things in ways that might not have been practical in the center. As those kids got older though, some started going to pre-school, and younger children replaced them, until eventually my daughter was the oldest kid there, and then she was bored with all the "baby" stuff. At that point, we put her in a pre-school focused daycare 3 days per week, and kept her in the home daycare the other 2 days.
My younger daughter started in the home daycare. That was nice because she could be together with her sister, and she got more individual attention as a baby. However, she was developmentally delayed, and when she was 2, her early intervention case worker suggested that she may do better in a center setting where there were more same-age peer models. We did move her to a developmental day center (half special needs and half typical kids) that summer for that reason. The developmental day center has two classrooms, each with 12 children and 3 teachers, so they still have good ratios.
Since my wife and I have no family support, we are forced to send our children to day care.
We send our 3 year old to daycare 3 days a week. . .because its "School" and good for him
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyFather
Up until this point, my daughter has been going to a center with over 150 children total in the whole place.
that is a big place
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyFather
Just in her class alone, she has been bitten twice by two different children, punched, kicked, smashed over the head by toys, and has been sick ever since day one.
Where do you send her? sounds bad. Is it one of the national brands ..
I've had J in Kindercare and Primrose (Vote goes to primrose) and sure. .at 2 he got bit a couple times. . .but that happens. He is sick a normal amount. . and has great fun everyday. Comes home and says "School was fun mommy/daddy"
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyFather
There are 3 little children who have been sick ever since I started my child in day care over a year ago. These three children have had red eyes, black circles around each eye, and running snot oozing from the nose. I cannot believe this has been going on for so long.
Unlikely. I would bet its confirmation bias. When they are sick you notice them, ignore them when they are well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyFather
Most of the teachers look like they have been ran over by a truck and dragged 20 miles. My wife and I have sick more times in the last year than I have ever been in my entire life. I am fed up with this.
kids + school = increased illness. I never got sick before kids.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyFather
We found a nice small licensed day care through a state referral service and enrolled both kids. My daughter starts Monday and my son starts as soon as another opening is available. Kind of like a wait list. The day care is licensed for 12 children only. The back yard is massive and has play structures that make me jealous. The husband and wife are both certified in CPR, have a disaster plan, and provide meals along with snacks. There is a curriculum based off State standards and is very clean and well organized. All kids are clean, well behaved, play nice together, and are not sick. Question, what are the good and bad about in-home day care? I want to hear some testimonials from people who switched to a smaller day care.
You have such a bad impression of this other school. Who knows. I don't like small day cares . . .like this. These are the ones which makes the news "kid left in trash can" kind of crap. I would prefer to have multiple adults who aren't related watching my kids.
I also like the structure and programs primrose gives for education, not found in home daycares often.
but everything is unique. I also had a smaller daycare at first. . and they were annoying. Parent always wrong. They were always right. Cancelled their service everytime it rained. Does the daycare know why they are in business ?
You cannot buy the caring, stable, nurturing love and attention of a dedicated and talented home-based child care provider--not to mention what those things can do for your child--but you will have to sort out how to handle that provider's sick days and vacation days. There is absolutely no comparison to the warehouse or institutional care at the huge chains.
Find out which homes the local elementary school teachers recommend. They work with the end product so they have a good perspective.
Can't buy a caring, attentive parent, either...but you know, whatever.
Can't buy a caring, attentive parent, either...but you know, whatever.
There's no need for you to be so judgmental. You can afford to have your wife stay home. Not everyone can.
To the OP: My daughter went to an in-home day care from 10 weeks to about 3 years when we gradually moved her to a day-care center. Both were very good experiences. At the in-home place the woman had been caring for babies for 40 years and she was a godsend to me as a new mom. She correctly suggested that my daughter needed to see an eye-doc at 4 months for strabismus and made good suggestions about lots of other baby issues. She was extremely well-organized and her house was immaculate. When I dropped my daughter off in the morning it always smelled like coffee and homemade tortillas. The only bad thing about it was when the woman needed to take off for some reason. She always gave us notice though and we were able to work around it.
We moved my daughter when we felt like she needed more structure and stimulation. The place was accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) which has standards for student/teacher ratio, nutrition, curriculum, etc. So that's one thing you can look for when you're searching for a new center.
Some things to look for are:
-What the staff tells you about your kids day at the center each afternoon/evening. Can they tell you more than one thing and is anything specific or just general?
-Projects and activities being sent home in the backpacks.
-Listen to see if your kids are learning new songs or talking about letters, shapes, etc. They love to repeat what they learn.
-Are your kids happy to be there? You can tell that one easily.
No one said anything about trying to keep a kid in a bubble. However, you would not intentionally expose your kid to a kid who is SO SICK that they CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL, would you? Do you understand that those are the kids who have to stay home and who are at home during the in-home day care? They are the ones too sick to go to elementary school either sick on their own or the school won't allow it. Get it?
There is a difference between a kid who has a runny nose who is sent to school and to whom your kid gets exposed and one who is so sick that he/she CANNOT GO TO SCHOOL. They are the ones that can't go to school bc the school won't accept them or bc their condition is such that the child is not comfortable being at school. Not typically the minor sniffles. In elementary school, that means the kids are REALLY SICK. They let you come to elementary school if you've got a cold.
However, things like pink eye and other stuff (beyond a common cold) keeps the kids at home in elementary school. Think chicken pox, measles, mumps, right?
This isn't about being in a bubble. I think you did not understand the nuances of my comment. This assumes you wouldn't send your kid to a place where someone has pink eye there with them but maybe I'm wrong. I've been wrong and surprised alot on this forum. LOL.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamacatnv
IMO you can't put kids in a bubble. Airborne illness is everywhere you go whether it be at the babysitters or the grocery store. All of my in-home caregivers had children, it was the reason they were running in home day care. Their kids getting sick was a given but my experience was that they were all far more diligent in sanitizing etc. than any center could ever be. If illness avoidance is your absolute top priority then day care of any kind will need to be avoided.
Kids get sick, especially in the younger years. Its part of building their immunities. If kids are never exposed to the general population and their bugs then when those isolated kids finally do reach school age they will spend a great deal of their first year ill.
It's a balance. Some illness in the early years is normal, excessive illness is troublesome.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
